5 stars – it's a masterpiece
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A sprawling adventure and an ode to the wonder of archaeological discovery, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a tremendous accomplishment of a video game. It is ambitious, effective storytelling; it is explosive blockbuster action; and it is expansive, detailed environments.

It's also a fairly easy game to criticise -- the story has some plotholes and never is quite brave enough to capitalise on its character conflicts; the combat isn't particularly engaging; and the climbing and puzzles aren't as smart as they could be. I may bump my score down by ½ a star in the future...

For now, however, Uncharted 4 is one of the most epic and engaging games I have ever played. It features an amazing story, action set-pieces to die for, and spaces oozing with ancient beauty. It's simply amazing.

É bizarro que pra mim, uncharted 4 é o único jogo realmente cativante da série, com a emoção de estar experienciando uma grande aventura e descobrindo a historia de um tesouro perdido, historia essa que me prendeu do início ao fim. Mas dessa vez não se trata mais de apenas uma aventura uncharted, mas sim uma aventura que expande e finaliza de forma muito satisfatória a jornada de Nathan Drake e sua turminha. Me diverti horrores com esse jogo, lutas e set pieces que impressionam até hoje em dia, o que é muito importante pra um jogo estilo uncharted, caracteristicas que senti falta na trilogia do playstation 3 tendo jogado eles em 2024. Acho que com uncharted 4 eu senti um pouco do que a série significou na época da trilogia original, e ja que não tive um playstation 3 e não pude ter esses momentos que muitas pessoas tiveram pra se tornarem tão apaixonados por essa franquia. Uncharted 4 é pra mim aquela experiência que eu procuro ter sempre que eu acabo de sair de algo muito cabeçudo ou que demandou muito de mim, algo simples mas não necessariamente raso, algo que seja reconfortante e de certa forma familiar, um bom jogo pra revisitar quando estiver se sentindo vazio.

I've definitely fallen out of love with AAA games. Maybe just third person shooters? I dunno. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time here overall but it definitely didn't have the impact the first three games did over a decade ago.

I'll do the complaints first. It's mostly the combat. In a technical sense, it works fine. It's just kinda dull? You get through another like harrowing and intense platforming section and suddenly find yourself in a bigger open area with crates and rubble just high enough to take cover behind. That shit makes me groan. On top of it you have like regular human enemies that are bullet sponges and for me it just breaks the immersion. It also just feels really tedious playing back and forth hiding in cover waiting to shoot guys.

I found a way to enjoy this a bit more though. Younger me would scoff but I put in on the easiest it could go to. The straight up "you're playing this for the story difficulty. It felt good! I got to play how I wanted a bit more. Enemies still took a bit to kill but at least I could run around in the open and take guys out a bit. Definitely helpful towards the end. Last thing I wanna do when I'm getting close to the end of a climactic adventure is keep restarting cos I died not playing the way the game wants me to engage with it's boring combat.

Alright. So positives. What's good about this game. It looks pretty, obviously. They put you in situations where you can gaze at all the beautiful environments they crafted. They should! That's seriously some good work. That extends to the faces of characters too. It's worth sitting through cutscenes and watching everyone emote at each other. Their expressions really pop with all the mocap in the face and the way the characters move.

That's really the heart of these types of things right. The characters and story. Well maybe not the actual plot. Just another adventure for treasure type thing with the usual beats with villains and whatever. It's how that serves as a vehicle for the characters and the drama though. Coming back to Nate and Sully was like revisiting an old friend. Then they introduce Nate's brother and instead of feeling like the tacked on emotional trigger they make you care about him and what he's been through.

You know what does that best? The gameplay, shockingly enough. They made me feel for Sam and the connection of the brothers by having me play through pivotal moments in their lives and its these parts where the game really shines for me. You get Sam's prison break adventure which has the shooting I'm not so fond of BUT you're doing it as you move through an area. It's just GO GO GO the whole time. Hell the earlier prison scene does this too.

Then there's flashback scenes of just the brothers. In this there's a lot of character building in dialogue as you platform around places the boys shouldn't be. It gives a sense of comradery and lets you deepen your understanding of the characters and their relationship while you're doing stuff. It's a bit on the nose sometimes and maybe gameplay light for parts but it's good. It translates a bit to the overall game in some parts but it's best when it's in isolated chapters like they do here.

I also REALLY love the platforming stuff. Again, there isn't much to this gameplay-wise. There's no real way to fail outside of not realizing they don't intend you to jump a certain way. No stamina meter or ways to miss a rope swing. It's just engaging enough to be enjoyable though I think. They have enough elements thrown in like the grapple hook and the sliding and the pick thing you get towards the end that you keep track of a few different ways to traverse an area. It's still very linear and obvious what you need to do where but it's crafted in such a way that it's really fun to watch play out as you kinda interact with it.

The peak of the game is the chapter with the clock tower. You start in this stunning area and they flex how much they put into the game with all the details and animated people you weave through. Then you get to the clock tower and do platforming in it WHILE solving one of the game's like three puzzles (easily the most intricate one too). Then shit goes south and you end up back in the amazing city in one of the game's surprisingly strong vehicle sequences. This in turn brings back the gunplay I like where you're moving through a thing as you go. It's a bit more on rails here and enemies are sill a pain but I like being able to have the option taking out a bunch at once by killing the driver of a vehicle.

Uncharted 4 is a good game. I'm not typically into story heavy games that stop you to watch cutscenes but it's definitely more tolerable when it's written, performed, and rendered by some of the best in the biz. The combat failed to impress me yet again but they switch it up with the platforming I like and some other stuff enough to keep it fun. At least until the last few chapters where it's more of a shoot fest but whatever. A solid experience overall and a mostly good sendoff to the characters fans have come to love. Just a damn shame the expansion game features two kinda bad characters. Don't think I'll be playing that soon. No one to recommend this to since any fans have played it and anyone new shouldn't start with this one lmao but I definitely lean more for than against this game.

P.S. fuck every time the game has you push a crate to get up somewhere higher and double fuck when it's somewhere a character tagging along with got to first.

P.P.S. I also don't wanna hear "I'll give you a boost" again for a while. eye fuckin roll

I apologise in advancee for not completely falling in love with what is considered a very highly rated masterpiece of the genre. I personally really got burnt out by a rather boring gameplay loop and a story that perhaps pushed a bit too much runtime for its own good. I played lost legacy right after, and unpopular as my opinion may be, I prefered that a bit more because it didnt overstay its welcome.
The problem with a narrative focussed adventure game with rather mediocre platforming and gunplay is that even the best story can get dragged down by the gameplay elements.
Additionally, as a lover of videogame music, nothing here stuck out.
The setting of a pirate adventure and the nuance of the brotherly interactions in the story are certainly a massive plus point and I cannot deny investment in the plot. The game is obviously pretty, though a few character expressions are uncanny. The set pieces are bombastic as one would expect and deliver the intended punch.
I really dont know I would have really loved it if it ended at 14 chapters instead of 20+. The length really really dragged it down towards the end and thats a shame.
Nevertheless, it is a brilliant game in its genre and there has been a lot of work and money poured into it. I would say it is worth atleast a try if you can afford the time and cost.